In the production of rolled strips, it is customary to wind these, uncut, into bundles and provide them for further processing. In this case, there is often the need to inspect or to test the strips wound into bundles, that is to say to extract test pieces from the bundles.
A multiplicity of apparatuses for the sampling of strips wound into bundles are known from the prior art. Apparatuses which have proved appropriate in this context are those which extract a sample from the outer turns of the bundle.
For example, an apparatus for the sampling of strip wound into a bundle may be gathered from EP 0044923 B1. In this, the bundle lies on two bearing rollers. The outer turn is delivered in a vertical position to shears by a bundle opener and guide devices. The disadvantage of this, above all, is that the free strip length which the strip covers from the rear bearing roller, as seen in the direction of rotation, as far as the guide devices or the shears is very long, so that sufficient guidance of the free strip end is not reliably afforded. Particularly where thicker and firm strips are concerned, this may lead to faults or make sampling more difficult. Nor is inspection readily possible because of the position of the cut sample.